The invention relates to the treatment of diseases caused by a filovirus.
Diseases caused by viruses are major health problems worldwide. Filoviruses are particularly deadly viruses that cause severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and non-human primates. Filoviruses are sporadically transmitted to humans from a natural reservoir species thought to be fruit bats, after which the virus can easily spread from the human having the infection to a caregiver through bodily fluids. Infection with a filovirus of the Ebola or Marburg genus causes death in 25% to 90% of human victims, often within 10 days from the first appearance of symptoms.
No known anti-viral therapies are effective for treating filovirus-mediated diseases. Filoviruses thus pose serious unmet health and bioterrorism concerns. Given the lack of safe and efficacious therapies for filovirus-mediated diseases, there is a need for such therapies.